Background information
My residual love for analogue
by Reto Hunziker
One hour at the High End Swiss audio trade fair
30.10.2019
Translation: machine translated
At the High End Swiss trade fair last weekend, you could try out the most expensive headphones, attend lectures and workshops and talk shop. I was there - unfortunately far too briefly.
I arrive annoyed at the Mövenpick Hotel in Regensdorf. I'm late because I've been stuck in Zurich Altstetten for over an hour. "Football fans" had blocked the entire station. The hotel is hosting High End Swiss - the specialised trade fair for audio solutions. It's already four o'clock, just one hour to go before the Swiss edition of High End is over again.
As soon as I enter the hotel on the third floor, where half of the exhibitors are presenting their line-ups in the rooms, my bad mood is gone. The sound can already be heard from the stairs. It's not the music I would listen to in private, but I'm still happy.
Because I only have an hour left, I have to prioritise and am overwhelmed at first. I walk along the 80s-style hotel corridor and see lots of manufacturers that interest me. There are also a lot of Swiss names.
No playing your own music on your mobile
I would love to go into every room. But there's not enough time. I see a large poster from Stax.
I've wanted to see the electrostatic headphones for a long time. In the hotel room, where there is no longer a bed but two rows of chairs and three tables, headphones and amplifiers worth several cars are ready to be tried out.
I can already hear the music coming from the open headphones at the door to the room. The lady who was trying out the relatively new STAX SR-009S has just got up. I seize the opportunity and put the high-end headphones, which cost around 4000 dollars, on my head. A jazz piece is playing. Although I think jazz is one of the worst genres of music - only pop is worse - I like the piece. The sound is more pronounced than I've ever heard before. Every detail comes out. It's amazing!
The SR-009S is popular, someone else wants to test listen too. I move one seat over and put on the SR-L700. Jazz is also playing here. The sound is so pure that I actually like the jazz music now. Still, I wonder what the music I usually listen to sounds like. A track by Lindsey Stirling would certainly be wonderful on these headphones.
I ask if I can connect my mobile to the headphone amplifier via the headphone jack. The answer: a scathing look. The files would be played by a special audio player, the gentleman explains. I overhear a snippet of conversation in the corridor that people who have their music on their mobile - or worse, on Spotify - have no idea anyway.
I take a look at the record player from the same brand and then head back into the aisle to look at other manufacturers. I spent far too long at Stax - the trade fair closes in 35 minutes.
Lots of curiosities, analogue items and beautiful music
Beautiful snippets of music can be heard in the corridor. One of the lectures in a larger room has just finished. I am amazed at the audience - my colleague David Lee, who was once at the fair, told me that all the visitors here were around seventy years old. But I even see one or two people leaving the room who are about the same age as me.
In the corridor, I notice another poster. It says Big Fun Music - the lettering doesn't match that of the other exhibitors at all. I enter the room and all I see is vinyl. Records are arranged alphabetically on three tables. Analogue seems to be a big topic, there were several workshops on the subject - unfortunately I missed them all. The record room is well filled with interested people, I can only take a quick photo.
Time is running out and I can only take a quick look in a few rooms. I get stuck with the Cabasse brand. The spherical speaker on the stand looks like it was designed by an alien and placed in his spaceship.
The item comes with a price tag: 2800 euros. Without the stand. But it's not expensive at all here, even from the aisle I've seen price tags labelled 60,000 francs. What amazes me much more here is that the Alien sphere works with Bluetooth and can even be used to stream Spotify.
In the same room is a record player from Clearaudio. There's no price tag. I ask about it: Depending on the configuration, the thing costs around 30,000 to 60,000 dollars.
A quick in-ear headphone bargain
The trade fair continues in the basement of the hotel. I haven't even seen half of it yet. A total of 44 manufacturers are represented at the trade fair. It's now 10 to five. So ten more minutes, then the trade fair closes.
I get stuck at the first door. I quietly listen to various pieces of music. Sounds like open headphones. There are around fifteen hi-fi over-ear headphones on display in the room for me to try out. For example, from Audeze, Astell & Kern, Beyerdynamic, Denon, FiiO, Focal, Meze, Hifiman, Sennheiser and Shure.
There are also plenty of in-ear models; especially from Astell & Kern. Retail price: 3499 francs. Good if you can try them out first.
It's now five o'clock and the fair is closing. On the way out, I overhear three men talking about music production. I try to listen unnoticed, but catch their eye and strike up a conversation with them. One of the men is a visitor to the fair, the other two are exhibitors. The visitor is the owner of a recording studio. At the end of the conversation, he invites me to his recording studio in Lucerne for a report.
Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.
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